300 ham'r

[Tomme boy]

Anyone have experience with this? I can get a barrel for my Ruger American ranch fairly cheap. This one actually has me intrigued. Way better ballistics than 300blk or 7.62x39. And being in a bolt gun it can be even more useful as I don't have to worry about the gas running the gun. The only down fall is the slow twist. But that is not why I wanted it anyway. 150gr bullets are just fine with me.

And the other thing is dies and brass are really cheap right now. My guess is Wilson is not going to push this much more.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I was thoroughly impressed and even exchanged a couple emails with Wilson about it. Why I didn't go for it is basically because it's simply not cast friendly. Oh and that's straight from Bill Wilson the tolerances are such that it just doesn't let it shelf to the larger diameter bullets.

But If ya just want jacketed it seems ta check all the boxes.

CW

 

[sundog]

Powder coat cast (RCBS 7.62-130-SPL and NOE 311-152-SP) runs just fine in a Wilson Combat AR 1:15 match barrel.

I'm on a different project for awhile but plan to return to the 300 Ham'r soon.

BTW, slow twist is an advantage.

 

[Tomme boy]

I looked at the prints. It is supposed to have a 0.309" free bore. And a short leade. K31's are even tighter than this. They work fine. I will have to look a little more. There is just not that much info out there about this round.

 

[popper]

Wilson generally shoots jacketed ammo. He added a bit of case length for more powder & shortened the neck. Makes it more like 30/30 performance with the lighter bullets, optimum135gr. Yea, twist is pretty slow. He had an earlier version, don't remember the name. If I'm shooting/hunting 200 or more, take a different rifle. I get 2100 fps with 145gr GC and H110 from 18" BO so, no Ham'r for me.
It was designed for full power 135gr jacketed bullets. Works well for that, so-so for anything else. Stay at design parameters any you will be happy.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I looked at the prints. It is supposed to have a 0.309" free bore. And a short leade. K31's are even tighter than this. They work fine. I will have to look a little more. There is just not that much info out there about this round.

Thats why I emailed Wilson directly.

7.62x40 or some such.

The Speer 130 fp is the designed bullet and its a good one. 1:15 was found superior when all temp
Ranges was taken in to consideration. The faster twist was inhibited by some temps.

 

[Ian]

I don't own one myself but based on my experience with cast bullets in a variety of rifles (including the Swedish Mauser at just about maximum rated pressure and velocity, and 7" twist at a quarter million RPM in .22 and .30 caliber}, I will politely say that Bill Wilson is full of shit.

The experts all write that Marlin Micro-Groove rifling isn't good with cast past 1600 fps and requires bullets cast of hard Line-O-Type alloy and that no cast bullet load can be accurate if it's going over 140,000 RPM, but this is also bullshit as myself and others have proven right here on this board many, many, many times.

 

[Tomme boy]

That was why I was looking at the prints Ian. I wanted to see what I was going to up against.

 

[sundog]

I ordered another mold, this one from Accurate - 31-142B, supposedly designed for the 300 Ham'r. This is a FN design that if it works might be a hunting bullet. I'll post when I have some results. Might be awhile as they apparently have a 5 week backlog.



In the meantime I'm working with an NOE 309-146-SP, GC'd and PC'd. As soon as I get out to the 100/200 yd range at the club, I'll post results.

Bill Wilson said that the 300 Ham'r was not designed for cast. Who am I to argue with the man, BUT that doesn't mean it won't work. So far what I have tried works. Kinda going into uncharted territory as no cast data for any of this can be found. If it does, I cannot find it.

Whatever will work in 300 Ham'r can then be adapted to 7.62x40WT (Wilson Tactical).

 

[Ian]

Bill Wilson doesn't make any money off of handloaded or cast bullet ammunition. He makes part of his living off of ammo sales. What would you expect him to say about cast bullets?

 

[popper]

WILSON COMBAT 300 HAM'R

I was showing my Uncle my 6.8 build and he was telling me about a 300 Ham'r. I looked it up and from the Wilson's Combat website the ballistics look really good especially when compared to the 300 Blackout. Thought I would share. "300 HAMR 16.25 Barrel Sierra 110gr HP 2600FP...

texashuntingforum.com

Wilson's ham'r thread. Yes, the x40 and ham'r are designed for jacketed. Well so was everything else modern. Short neck and freebore is a problem, 357 sig has similar problem. He admits he sells more BO barrels than Ham'r, like 3x. When I was playing with making x40 cases from 223, - too much trouble. Split necks when expanding even when annealed. Yea, you can get un-necked 223 brass.
That thread is interesting, shows the reason he decided to develop the x40/hamr. When IR hunting lots of hogs in S Texas, need the velocity for accurate fast shots. Kinda his take on 6.8 CM ability. Watch some of his vids.

 

[Hawk]

I've got the 7.62x40WT.
I made 600 pieces of brass and never lost a single one to a split neck.
I followed their directions. First, cut to length, ect. Used LC and PPU 5.56 brass.
The only problem I had was the PPU brass. It has a thicker case and I had to turn the necks down a little.
Stick with LC brass and it was easy.
This has been a fun caliber to play with and is the rig I hunt hogs with using Accurate Mold 31-155W, which Ian And Josh designed for this cartridge.
Thanks guys!!!

 

[popper]

IIRC I cut off at the shoulder and tried to expand. Didn't play with it much. Published data seems a little high for the 125 SST.

 

[Rushcreek]

Personally, I’ll stick with the 6.8 SPC.
The 10” twist works just fine for either type of bullet.
But that’s just me, I don’t begrudge anyone else’s choice.

 

[Ian]

For piggies, the .458 Socom 500-grain subsonic PC cast in the little AR, and .308 Winchester 174-grain HP PC gas checked at 2400+ in the big one. I don't like compromises.

 

[300BLK]

I bought a 12" twist x40 (discounted to 1/2 price) when Wilson first started pushing the 300Hamr. Magzine length is the limiter, and .03" more case length doesn't equate to capacity if you have more bullet shoved into the powder capacity. IIRC, back then, 15" was the twist for the Hamr, but quicker twists are now available. The Hamr was more about marketing than substance vs the x40.

When forming x40 brass, I didn't anneal before expanding, so yielded about 10% splits regardless of brand. I didn't like the tapered necks, so bought some 300Hamr brass from Starline, resized and trimmed to x40.

My x40 has never seen a jacketed bullet and was purchased solely for the 12" twist vs the 8" twist that my BO barrels are. The x40 has not complained about the ammo it has been fed other than needing different magazines (other than stock 223/556 mags). If the neck diameter and throat was an issue, it could be resolved with reamer.